The Heart of War: Misadventures in the Pentagon

The Devil Wears Prada meets Catch-22; a novel about a woman’s journey from academic peacenik to national security hawk working under the Dragon Lady of the Pentagon.

Dr. Heather Reilly has been an anti-war activist since her brother died fighting the Taliban. But her crushing student loans drive her to consider a fellowship in the Pentagon, and the possibility of working on a peace plan for Afghanistan has her hooked.

On her first day, however, her position is eliminated and she’s shuffled to a war-fighting office focusing on Russian aggression. It’s a job for which she has no experience and deep moral conflict, putting men and women in uniform in harm’s way. She’s also working for Ariane Fletcher—a woman so terrifying, she eats generals for breakfast.

Despite the Pentagon’s insane bureaucracy, petty power struggles, and endless (militarized) rules, Heather doesn’t just succeed—she thrives. It’s an awesome duty to protect men and women downrange, and even the boss from hell can’t taint her new understanding of her brother’s sacrifice and her own calling to national service. But her successes come at the expense of her personal life, and she learns the hard way that small mistakes can have major consequences in the Department of Defense.

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The Heart of War: Misadventures in the Pentagon

The Devil Wears Prada meets Catch-22; a novel about a woman’s journey from academic peacenik to national security hawk working under the Dragon Lady of the Pentagon.

Dr. Heather Reilly has been an anti-war activist since her brother died fighting the Taliban. But her crushing student loans drive her to consider a fellowship in the Pentagon, and the possibility of working on a peace plan for Afghanistan has her hooked.

On her first day, however, her position is eliminated and she’s shuffled to a war-fighting office focusing on Russian aggression. It’s a job for which she has no experience and deep moral conflict, putting men and women in uniform in harm’s way. She’s also working for Ariane Fletcher—a woman so terrifying, she eats generals for breakfast.

Despite the Pentagon’s insane bureaucracy, petty power struggles, and endless (militarized) rules, Heather doesn’t just succeed—she thrives. It’s an awesome duty to protect men and women downrange, and even the boss from hell can’t taint her new understanding of her brother’s sacrifice and her own calling to national service. But her successes come at the expense of her personal life, and she learns the hard way that small mistakes can have major consequences in the Department of Defense.